Originally Posted by
event horizon
Thanks for the apology, my ulnar nerve appreciates it.
Honestly wasn't trying to be funny there. Your response was pretty surprising.
The other laced shoes, for example, Giro's offerings, look similar. Your assumption that "they're trying to not look like clipless shoe" is what made me chuckle and prompted my response.
An image search for Giro's just look like road shoes with laces. These look like sneakers. My honest first thought was that it looked like something for a fixie rider.
Not needed with laces as the the retention load is more evenly spread out across the instep. They're set and forget.
Evenly spread tension does not work for me in cycling. I intentionally have different tension on the straps. Set and forget doesn't work because that's not how my feet work. Good tension now might not be good later. This is especially true on cooler spring rides when you start out a bit chilly so need the shoe tighter to keep your foot from sliding about and chafing but once warmed up need to relax the tension to allow circulation to continue. FWIW, I often readjust tension on the laces of laced shoes and boots as well if I have them tighter than slip-on tension.